Hakuji had been taken in by Keizo, a martial arts teacher two years before that. Keizo has been teaching him the Soryū fighting style in return of Hakuji looking after his daughter, Koyuki, who is sick.

Hakuji sat on the floor, tending to the young woman who was having yet another of many coughing fits. Koyuki laid there in the futon as Hakuji wiped down her face.

This was the routine for a few years now. Hakuji would care for her as much as possible and she would cry over not being able to do anything in return.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He said in that caring tone of his. “We can just go see the fireworks next year, no big deal.” As he said the year before, and the year before that.